"Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five porches. Crowds of sick people - blind, lame, or paralyzed - lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, "Would you like to get well?"
"I can't, sir," the sick man said, "for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me." Jesus told him, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!" Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, "You can't work on the Sabbath! The law doesn't allow you to carry that sleeping mat!"
"But he replied, "The man who healed me told me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" Who said such a thing as that?" they demanded. The man didn't know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, "Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you." Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him." (John 5:1-15 NLT)
"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." (Psalms 51:1-4 KJV)
Maybe you were looking for me to say a little more about, The Token? Well, it just so happens, this little portion of Scripture rolls right into that topic quite well! To be quite honest, this is a little bit of a favorite portion of Scripture of mine, to try and share what being delivered from addiction actually looks like. Which does not go over very well with those that believe in Twelve Step programs.
Not to say that Twelve Step programs do not work, because I know quite a few people who are highly dependent upon their success; but they are mostly all just one drink from destruction! To that point, my resolve to not miss a single day of doing this blog, may actually be closely related to that principle. I'm just saying; like that person with the 10 year chip: one drink and it is all she wrote!
Anywho: "Be ye holy; for I am holy," is something that is made possible because Christ has already made us holy! Before Jesus washed away all of our sins, it was pretty much a non-starter; we were never going to even come close to holiness, no matter how hard we tried! But we have been given a clean slate, and now we get to walk in the newness of holiness...
"Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace." (Romans 6:12-14 NLT)
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